Record Store Day Does Black Friday – 17 Of The Best Limited Edition Vinyl Releases From Garbage, Queen, MGMT And More

We’re not in America, so it’s not Thanksgiving, and by rights Black Friday shouldn’t be a thing – especially after the harrowing scenes of shopper carnage last year. But thanks to Record Store Day’s organisers over the pond, Black Friday doesn’t have to be an awful experience. Instead of slashing prices on objects of consumerist idolatry, they’ve set up a small, but not insignificant, run of limited editions, of music old and new. As the RSD people say themselves, “Cheap, mass-produced frenzy is not the goal.” While this is a US enterprise, some of these releases are expected to find their way to UK stores, and there’s always the internet. Follow this link to find out which stores participate.

1. Lush – ‘Ciao! Best Of’
Shoegazers Lush put out their career-spanning compilation album back in 2001, but here it’ll be available for the first time on red vinyl. The release comes ahead of their exciting comeback tour and 2016 EP – making this double LP set a perfect way to prepare.

2. The Zombies – ‘The BBC Sessions’
Another ‘Record Store Day First’, and another double-disc set – a vinyl collection of everything The Zombies recorded at the BBC, from ’64-’68, researched and compiled by Zombies expert Andrew Sandoval. It includes previously unissued interviews and songs.

3. Jimi Hendrix – ‘Burning Desire’
Just 5,000 copies of this vinyl set are available. They’ve never been sold on vinyl or CD. See the tracklisting here.

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4. The Arcs – ‘The Inventors Vol. 1’
Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys created this new band, who released their debut album ‘Yours, Dreamily’ in September. Now they’re back with two songwriters – Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo and New Orleans jazz legend Dr. John – for this six-track 10″ that will be released digitally too, on December 11.

5. Beck – ‘Dreams’
One of the year’s finest singles gets a limited 12″ run on 180g blue vinyl. The sleeve’s also embossed, making it a thing of beauty.

7. Ariel Pink/Blood Orange – ‘Heaven Knows What’
Californian psych oddball Ariel Pink wrote ‘I Need A Minute’ for Heaven Knows What, a film based on the memoirs of a heroin addict. The woozy A-Side to the shuriken-shaped 7″ is accompanied by a B-side collaboration between Ariel Pink and Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes, called ‘Heaven Can’t Wait’.

8. David Bowie – ‘Earthling’
This 180g green vinyl release of Bowie’s drum’n’bass album ‘Earthling’ comes in a tri-fold is exclusive to participating record stores.

9. The Clash – ‘The Clash’
There are just 5,000 copies in this exclusive edition of The Clash’s ’77 self-titled debut – the vinyl is a cool split of colours named after album tracks ‘White Riot’ and ‘Protex Blue’.

12. Jeff Buckley/Sly And The Family Stone – ‘Everyday People’
An RSD exclusive – Sly And The Family Stone’s classic funk single alongside Jeff Buckley’s rather different cover.

13. The Jesus & Mary Chain – ‘Barbed Wire Kisses’
The East Kilbride noise pop group put out this collection of singles, b-sides and rarities back in 1988. Now you can get it on blood-red vinyl.

14. John Malkovich – ‘Like A Puppet Show’
One of the weirder offerings is this double vinyl release – John Malkovich reciting Plato’s Cave Allegory, from his philosophical treatise The Republic, remixed by Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, Ric Ocasek, OMD and more. It comes in a picture disc package, featuring photos by Sandro.